A Single Strategy for Sensory Needs - The Highland Council

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Deafblind Scotland Deafblind Scotland is committed to working in partnership with local authorities, including the Highland Council, to ensure that deafblind people in Scotland enjoy similar services as those in England and Wales. In this respect, Deafblind Scotland has provided a service across the Highlands, funded by Highland Health Board, during the past 2 years. Whilst many needs of people with dual sensory impairments can be met by single sensory impairment services, not all deafblind people can automatically access these services. Deafblind Scotland would wish to work with local agencies to implement a professional, discrete and dedicated guide/ communicator service for deafblind people in the Highlands. In this way the specific needs of deafblind people may be more fully met. The good work already being undertaken by local agencies and services across Highland is acknowledged and Deafblind Scotland would wish to augment this work. It is also recognised that there are a number of routes to deafblindness and it is crucial that appropriate arrangements are put in place in order to facilitate the early identification and intervention required. It is however acknowledged that the policy of pro-actively closing relevant community care cases in Highland may militate against the identification of dual sensory impaired individuals, as many do not become significantly dually impaired until later in life. Deafblind Scotland believe that there is a pressing need to accurately identify the number of deafblind people in Highland and suggest that an Identification Project, in keeping with those undertaken in other parts of Scotland, would be worth while and provide vital information for strategic planning purposes. The prospect of an office-based presence in the Highlands would be welcomed by Deafblind Scotland as would be the opportunity to be involved in co-operative working in order that deafblind people can access the resources and expertise required. 44 Highland Society For Blind People Children’s Service This service seeks to meet the needs of children and young people with a significant visual impairment with in Highland Council area. There are two teachers on Deafblind training. This and other sensory training will be funded in future to meet needs. The criteria regarding referral to the service, is that the children’s visual impairment affects their striving for independence and their development. The majority of referrals come from the paediatric ophthalmologist and children are now being identified at a very early stage. The population of visually impaired children is 120 and is sparsely spread throughout the whole of the Highland Region. 50% of the population of visually impaired children have other special needs like cerebral palsy, or learning difficulties. It is tremendously important therefore that good liaising and co-ordinated, shared assessments and reviews are structured into the system between professionals and parents.
The geographical spread of the population of families with visually impaired children creates its own difficulties in provision of the service and leads to isolating factors for the families at home and in their rural communities. A most important element of the service is to meet the needs of parents for support, advice and information at home. They also need to understand how their blind child learns about his/her body and the environment, how do they learn to play, how they learn social and personal skills so there is a lot of shared “hands on” work with babies, the children and young people. The priority within the service is to address the independence needs of the children developing their self worth and self esteem and their ability to be able to travel safely and independently. The independence needs will vary with each child, from one child learning that the feel of the towel means bath-time to another child learning the concepts and skills to walk safely to the post office. In order to meet these needs it is essential that the staff of the children’s service work in partnership with Highland Education Vision Support Service and with the medical team whose primary concern is the diagnosis and treatment of the child’s visual difficulty. It has been difficult to access enough resources to allow the service to be adequately staffed. At present it has been necessary to be innovative about obtaining staff. One dual qualified member of staff is employed – social work and rehabilitation trained. A mobility officer has been seconded to the service from Guide Dogs but this is on a short term contract. Application was made to the Scottish Executive Innovation Grant Funding and the bid for a youth development officer was accepted but again is a short term project to listen to the views of the young people and help them articulate their needs to those that can effect change. In summary, the children’s service works in partnership with the Specialist Education Service and the medical team to meet the changing needs of visually impaired children and their families as they strive for their independence. Service For Adults The service seeks to address the needs of adults whose independence and quality of life is impaired due to poor vision. They will include: People who are formally registered as blind or partially sighted or who meet the criteria for registration People who have sight problems that are outside the legal criteria for formal registration but which nonetheless cause them difficulties; these will include those for whom prescriptive lenses are no longer beneficial and for whom medical intervention is no longer an option People whose eye condition is not permanent, e.g. people awaiting cataract surgery who may need support in the interim People who are regarded as having a dual sensory impairment, combining a severe degree of visual and auditory loss 45
Page 1: A Single Strategy for Sensory Needs
Page 4: Partners CAITHNESS Deaf Centre
Page 8 and 9: Foreword Hearing and vision become
Page 10 and 11: Policy Context The strategy follows
Page 12 and 13: Notes on Terminology The following
Page 14 and 15: Taking Forward the Strategy A multi
Page 16 and 17: principle is that services are desi
Page 18 and 19: Deafblind Scotland and the Associat
Page 20 and 21: communications training and better
Page 22 and 23: Support for Learners policy Framewo
Page 24 and 25: Three out of four people who experi
Page 26 and 27: Table 5: Prevalence of Need in Gene
Page 28 and 29: Financial pressures compromise serv
Page 30 and 31: Bibliography 1 Sensing Progress - S
Page 32 and 33: Appendix 2 Summary Overview of Sub-
Page 34 and 35: These include: Recognition and
Page 36 and 37: The DDA and other initiatives are c
Page 38 and 39: Appendix 3 Consultation Undertaken
Page 40 and 41: planned/ongoing, e.g. the report on
Page 42 and 43: Meetings The importance of forward
Page 44 and 45: Appendix 4 Overview of Current Serv
Page 46 and 47: 5.6 Full time equivalent (FTE) Teac
Page 48 and 49: Its broad aim is to ‘improve the
Page 52 and 53: The Rehabilitation Service offers a
Page 54: Contacts For further information ab

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